Changeling: The Lost
Encyclopedia
Changeling: The Lost is the fifth supplementary role-playing game
line published by White Wolf, Inc. It uses the Storytelling System
for rules and is set in the new World of Darkness
setting. Changeling is the second limited game published by White Wolf after Promethean: The Created
, but in April 2008 it was announced that because of the success of the line it would be an extended limited series not limited to 5 books. Since then a 6th book has been announced, Equinox Road. A 7th book, Goblin Market, was also announced as a PDF only book.
The game is primarily inspired by tales of changelings from Europe
an folklore
, but includes elements of similar stories from around the world. While superficially similar to the original World of Darkness game Changeling: The Dreaming
, Changeling: The Lost approaches the legends from a more traditional perspective of mortals kidnapped by Fae, and eschews the past life
angle that characterized its predecessor.
," according to the White Wolf website. Previous to that, updates on the White Wolf Inc. website slowly revealed more about the setting and the mechanics. Much of what was known about the game, prior to the official updates, was disseminated by members who attended the 2007 GAMA Trade Show
in Las Vegas
.
On April 25 2007, a White Wolf staff member's publicly posted photograph documenting a prank revealed the Changeling cover for the first time.
On April 30 2007, the cover for Changeling: The Lost was officially revealed via White Wolf's news feed; coupled with this description of the game line from the publisher:
The cover depicts the Changeling title super-imposed over a mass of green thorns; a battered Luna Moth is impaled on the thorns.
A "quickstart" version of Changeling: The Lost was released for Free RPG Day
, June 23, 2007. This free demo was made available for download from the White Wolf, Inc. website on June 26 2007.
, a fictional analog to the real world
in which human beings unknowingly coexist with legendary monsters and other supernatural
phenomena. The "Changelings" of the title are ordinary human beings who were kidnapped by the Fae
and taken as slaves to their world (alternately known as Arcadia
or Faerie). The player character
s are changelings who have managed to escape their otherworldly captors and struggle through the barrier (known as the Hedge or the Thorns) that separates Faerie from Earth. The game focuses on the experiences of these changelings as they re-discover the world of their birth, try to cope with the changes they have undergone, and seek to evade recapture.
s of the game are the pain of loss, the quest for identity, and the bittersweet nature of human existence.
Changelings refer to themselves as "the Lost": they were kidnapped by the godlike Fae, taken to an alien realm, and held prisoner. While trapped in Faerie (referred to as their "Durance"), they were forced to serve their otherworldly masters and endure inhuman tortures; to survive under the twisted laws underpinning Arcadia, they also had to undergo physical and supernatural changes. Many escape only to find that they have been replaced by a faerie simulacrum (called a "Fetch") and that they have not been missed at all. Most also discover that time passed differently in Arcadia than in the mortal world, and they are either too old or too young to resume their normal lives. Those who can often do attempt to pick up where they left off before they were taken, with varying degrees of success, while others try to build new human lives elsewhere. However even under the best possible circumstances, the Lost are no longer fully human; they have become part of both worlds and while they are still human enough to make sense of human things, they have been changed just enough to skew their perceptions. Many embrace their new existences, compensating for the loss of their mortal lives by immersing themselves in changeling society. Most find that they have come to appreciate humanity in a new way, finding beauty in the most mundane or painful of experiences, aching for things they did not appreciate before their capture.
, while others are defined by their approach to social interaction.
All things fae, including changelings, are also protected by the Mask, an illusion that makes them appear as mundane versions of themselves. Only fae beings can see through the Mask, though they can ensorcell humans and thereby grant them the temporary ability to see through the Mask.
The Seemings are as listed:
Beasts: Changelings that share qualities with animals both mythical and mundane.
Darklings: Changelings that represent the aspects of Fear and Shadow.
Elementals: Changelings that have become one with an aspect of nature.
Fairests: Changelings that embody the beauty and majesty of the Fae.
Ogres: Changelings that were subject to violence and became avatars of it.
Wizened: Changelings that served as workers and servants only to become the figure of their profession.
The Courts include:
Spring
: The Emerald Court, affiliated with the emotion of Desire and the aspect of New Growth and Rejuvination
Summer
: The Crimson Court, affiliated with the emotion of Wrath and the aspects of Heat and the Sun
Autumn
: The Ashen Court, affiliated with the emotion of Fear and the aspects of the Harvest and Decay
Winter
: The Onyx Court, affiliated with the emotion of Sorrow and the aspect of Cold.
North
: The Armor Court, affiliated with Suffering/Detachment and the Black Tortoise
East
: The Serpent Court, affiliated with Greed/Envy and the Azure Dragon
South
: The Vermilion Court, affiliated with Passion/Ecstasy and the Vermilion Bird
West
: The White Tiger Court, affiliated with Honor/War and, obviously, the White Tiger
Sun
: The Court of the Day, affiliated with Shame and Righteousness
Moon
: The Court of the Night, affiliated with Disgust and Wickedness
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
line published by White Wolf, Inc. It uses the Storytelling System
Storytelling System
The Storytelling System, formerly Storyteller System, is a role-playing game system created by White Wolf, Inc. in 1991 that premiered in Vampire: The Masquerade, a part of the World of Darkness series.-Storyteller System:...
for rules and is set in the new World of Darkness
World of Darkness
"World of Darkness" is the name given to three related but distinct fictional universes created as settings for supernatural horror themed role-playing games. It is also the name of roleplaying games in the second and third settings...
setting. Changeling is the second limited game published by White Wolf after Promethean: The Created
Promethean: The Created
Promethean: The Created is a role-playing game published by White Wolf, set in the new World of Darkness.The game is inspired by the classic tales of Frankenstein's monster, the Golem and other such simulacra. The characters are individuals created by first dismembering and reassembling human...
, but in April 2008 it was announced that because of the success of the line it would be an extended limited series not limited to 5 books. Since then a 6th book has been announced, Equinox Road. A 7th book, Goblin Market, was also announced as a PDF only book.
The game is primarily inspired by tales of changelings from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
, but includes elements of similar stories from around the world. While superficially similar to the original World of Darkness game Changeling: The Dreaming
Changeling: The Dreaming
Changeling: The Dreaming was part of White Wolf Game Studio's original "World of Darkness" role playing game line. Player characters are changelings, fae souls reborn into human bodies, a practice begun by the fae to protect themselves as magic vanished from the world...
, Changeling: The Lost approaches the legends from a more traditional perspective of mortals kidnapped by Fae, and eschews the past life
Past life
Past life may refer to:* Past lives in reincarnation* Pre-existence, the belief that each individual human soul existed before conception- Popular culture :...
angle that characterized its predecessor.
Release History
The game was released on August 16, 2007, "just in time for Gen ConGen Con
Gen Con is one of the largest and most prominent annual gaming conventions in North America. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card-style games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, board games, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, non-collectible...
," according to the White Wolf website. Previous to that, updates on the White Wolf Inc. website slowly revealed more about the setting and the mechanics. Much of what was known about the game, prior to the official updates, was disseminated by members who attended the 2007 GAMA Trade Show
Trade fair
A trade fair is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities...
in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
.
On April 25 2007, a White Wolf staff member's publicly posted photograph documenting a prank revealed the Changeling cover for the first time.
On April 30 2007, the cover for Changeling: The Lost was officially revealed via White Wolf's news feed; coupled with this description of the game line from the publisher:
Taken from your home, transformed by the power of Faerie, kept as the Others’ slave or pet — but you never forgot where you came from. Now you have found your way back through the Thorns, to a home that is no longer yours. You are Lost. Find yourself.
The cover depicts the Changeling title super-imposed over a mass of green thorns; a battered Luna Moth is impaled on the thorns.
A "quickstart" version of Changeling: The Lost was released for Free RPG Day
Free RPG Day
Free RPG Day is an annual promotional effort by the North American Role-playing game industry. Inspired by Free Comic Book Day, Free RPG Day was started in 2007 and is coordinated worldwide by Impressions Advertising and Marketing...
, June 23, 2007. This free demo was made available for download from the White Wolf, Inc. website on June 26 2007.
Game Overview
The game is set in the World of DarknessWorld of Darkness
"World of Darkness" is the name given to three related but distinct fictional universes created as settings for supernatural horror themed role-playing games. It is also the name of roleplaying games in the second and third settings...
, a fictional analog to the real world
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
in which human beings unknowingly coexist with legendary monsters and other supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
phenomena. The "Changelings" of the title are ordinary human beings who were kidnapped by the Fae
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...
and taken as slaves to their world (alternately known as Arcadia
Arcadia (utopia)
Arcadia refers to a vision of pastoralism and harmony with nature. The term is derived from the Greek province of the same name which dates to antiquity; the province's mountainous topography and sparse population of pastoralists later caused the word Arcadia to develop into a poetic byword for an...
or Faerie). The player character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
s are changelings who have managed to escape their otherworldly captors and struggle through the barrier (known as the Hedge or the Thorns) that separates Faerie from Earth. The game focuses on the experiences of these changelings as they re-discover the world of their birth, try to cope with the changes they have undergone, and seek to evade recapture.
Themes
The dominant themeTheme (literature)
A theme is a broad, message, or moral of a story. The message may be about life, society, or human nature. Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas and are almost always implied rather than stated explicitly. Along with plot, character,...
s of the game are the pain of loss, the quest for identity, and the bittersweet nature of human existence.
Changelings refer to themselves as "the Lost": they were kidnapped by the godlike Fae, taken to an alien realm, and held prisoner. While trapped in Faerie (referred to as their "Durance"), they were forced to serve their otherworldly masters and endure inhuman tortures; to survive under the twisted laws underpinning Arcadia, they also had to undergo physical and supernatural changes. Many escape only to find that they have been replaced by a faerie simulacrum (called a "Fetch") and that they have not been missed at all. Most also discover that time passed differently in Arcadia than in the mortal world, and they are either too old or too young to resume their normal lives. Those who can often do attempt to pick up where they left off before they were taken, with varying degrees of success, while others try to build new human lives elsewhere. However even under the best possible circumstances, the Lost are no longer fully human; they have become part of both worlds and while they are still human enough to make sense of human things, they have been changed just enough to skew their perceptions. Many embrace their new existences, compensating for the loss of their mortal lives by immersing themselves in changeling society. Most find that they have come to appreciate humanity in a new way, finding beauty in the most mundane or painful of experiences, aching for things they did not appreciate before their capture.
Characters
Changeling characters are unique individuals, each one shaped differently by his or her personal experiences in the world of the Fae. As a result Changeling: The Lost features a more nuanced and detailed character-creation system than the other World of Darkness games. Each Changeling possesses a Seeming, and may possess a Kith which further defines a seeming, a Court represented by Seasons or any other patterns, and Entitlements which are used to distinguish and describe the nature of the character according to the changes that her time with the Fae have wrought upon her. Some Changelings exhibit inhuman beauty, while others exhibit atavism; some are defined by a particular seasonSeason
A season is a division of the year, marked by changes in weather, ecology, and hours of daylight.Seasons result from the yearly revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of revolution...
, while others are defined by their approach to social interaction.
All things fae, including changelings, are also protected by the Mask, an illusion that makes them appear as mundane versions of themselves. Only fae beings can see through the Mask, though they can ensorcell humans and thereby grant them the temporary ability to see through the Mask.
The Seemings are as listed:
Beasts: Changelings that share qualities with animals both mythical and mundane.
Darklings: Changelings that represent the aspects of Fear and Shadow.
Elementals: Changelings that have become one with an aspect of nature.
Fairests: Changelings that embody the beauty and majesty of the Fae.
Ogres: Changelings that were subject to violence and became avatars of it.
Wizened: Changelings that served as workers and servants only to become the figure of their profession.
The Courts include:
Spring
Spring (season)
Spring is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition period between winter and summer. Spring and "springtime" refer to the season, and broadly to ideas of rebirth, renewal and regrowth. The specific definition of the exact timing of "spring" varies according to local climate, cultures and...
: The Emerald Court, affiliated with the emotion of Desire and the aspect of New Growth and Rejuvination
Summer
Summer
Summer is the warmest of the four temperate seasons, between spring and autumn. At the summer solstice, the days are longest and the nights are shortest, with day-length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice...
: The Crimson Court, affiliated with the emotion of Wrath and the aspects of Heat and the Sun
Autumn
Autumn
Autumn is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter usually in September or March when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier....
: The Ashen Court, affiliated with the emotion of Fear and the aspects of the Harvest and Decay
Winter
Winter
Winter is the coldest season of the year in temperate climates, between autumn and spring. At the winter solstice, the days are shortest and the nights are longest, with days lengthening as the season progresses after the solstice.-Meteorology:...
: The Onyx Court, affiliated with the emotion of Sorrow and the aspect of Cold.
North
North
North is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.North is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west.By convention, the top side of a map is north....
: The Armor Court, affiliated with Suffering/Detachment and the Black Tortoise
East
East
East is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.East is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of west and is perpendicular to north and south.By convention, the right side of a map is east....
: The Serpent Court, affiliated with Greed/Envy and the Azure Dragon
South
South
South is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.South is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to east and west.By convention, the bottom side of a map is south....
: The Vermilion Court, affiliated with Passion/Ecstasy and the Vermilion Bird
West
West
West is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.West is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of east and is perpendicular to north and south.By convention, the left side of a map is west....
: The White Tiger Court, affiliated with Honor/War and, obviously, the White Tiger
Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
: The Court of the Day, affiliated with Shame and Righteousness
Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
: The Court of the Night, affiliated with Disgust and Wickedness
Antagonists
The Lost have many problems to deal with, the most prominent being the Gentry, or True Fae. Other problems include their fetches, Hobgoblins, Enchanted Mortals, Mad Changelings, and the various other beings within the World of Darkness Cosmology.Books
- Changeling: The Lost (August 16, 2007) (WW70000) (ISBN 978-1-58846-527-6) Core rulebook.
- Autumn Nightmares (October 5, 2007) (WW70300) (ISBN 978-1-58846-531-3) Antagonists book..
- Winter Masques (November 30, 2007) (WW70200) (ISBN 978-1-58846-532-0) Seemings and kith book..
- Rites of Spring (February 6, 2008) (WW70201) (ISBN 978-1-58846-716-4) Contracts and magic book.
- Lords of Summer (June 11, 2008) (ISBN 978-1-58846-715-7) Courts and entitlements book.
- The Equinox Road (August 6, 2008) (ISBN 978-1-58846-717-1) "Rites of Spring" mentions it may deal with how changeling games can be blended into other WoD games such as Mage.
- Night Horrors: Grim Fears (October 6, 2008) (ISBN: 978-1-58846-743-0) An Antagonist book filled with Fae and Lost for any Chronicle and Crossover.
- Dusk and Dawn (TBA) (ISBN:TBA)
External links
- Official Homepage
- Changeling: The Lost Demo - Freely available PDF demonstration version of the game
- Review at Flames Rising
- Review at RPGnet